Apparatus for use in identifying radiographs



Oct. 28, 1958' v. R. PARISH 2,858,446

APPARATUS FOR USE IN IDENTIFYING RADIOGRAPHS Filed'March 25; 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. HAROLD V R. PARISH BY: -y

' ATTAORNEYS Oct. 28, 1958 H. v. R. PARISH 2,358,445 Q APPARATUS FOR USE IN IDENTIFYING RADIOGRAPHS Filed March 25, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m; INVENTOR.

HAROLD v. R. PARlSH ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofiice 2,858,446 Patented Oct. 28, 1958 APPARATUS FOR USE 1N IDENTIFYING RADIOGRAPHS EI IaroldY. R. Parish, Saginaw, Mich.

Application March 25, 1957, Serial No. 648,211

QCJaims. (Cl. 250:67)

This invention relates to apparatus for use in conjunction with Xrray equipment and more particularly to apparatus operable to provide radiographs with identifying .ind i X-ray equipment of the kind currently in use includes a cassette holder in which film is placed and against which a patient is positioned in the path of X-rays emanating from a tube or head so as to produce on the film a radiograph of that portion of the patients body it is desired to study. Each of the radiographs must be identified and the customary manner of identification employed heretofore comprises a trough-like tray fixed to the cassette holder in the path of X-rays and in which ,a plurality of individual metallic number elements may be placed so as to provide the radiograph with identifying symbols. This practice is not altogether satisfactory since the individual elements frequently become lost. Moreover, it requires a second, separate tray or file drawer in which the number elements may be stored when not in use. Another practice currently in use is that of placing a number of individual indicia elements on a piece of adhesive tape and then adhering the tape to the cassette holder. This practice is also objectionable for the same reasons pointed out above.

An object of this invention is to provide radiograph identifying means which may form an integral part of a cassette holder, eliminating the necessity of providing a plurality of individual indicia elements and separate container means therefor.

Another object of the invention is to provide radiograph identifying means which is readily and easily manipulatable to vary the indicia to be reproduced on suc- .ce'ssive radiographs.

A further object of the invention is to provide radiograph identifying means of the kind referred to which may be so located as to be recorded on radiographs in a mi o m p it oniA still further object of the invention is to provide radiograph indentification apparatus which is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, and durable in use.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be pointed out specifically or will become apparent from the following description when it is considered in conjunction with the appended claims and the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elev-ational, somewhat diagrammatic .view .of X-ray equipment equipped with apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary, front elevational View of a portion of the apparatus shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in section, of the apparatus shown in Figures 1 and 2, but on an enlarged scale;

Figure 4, is a view, partly in front elevation and partly in section of the apparatus shown in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is an enlarged, side elevational view, with 2 ceratin parts broken away, of a portion of apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention;

Figure 6 is a partly front elevational and partly sectional view of the device shown in Figure 5, certain parts being omitted from Figure 6 in the interests of clarity;

Figure 7 is a detail View of a modified part of the apparatus;

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 3, but showing a modification;

Figure 9 is a fragmentary, front elevational view of a radiograph.

In Figure 1, there is disclosed X-ray equipment including a so-called X-ray head or tube 1 equipped with means for generating and directing X-rays toward a cassette holder 2 of conventional construction and supported in a suitable manner upon a base 2a. Conventional cassette holders usually are supported for either vertical or lateral adjustment, or both, but since the adjusting means forms no part of the present invention it has not been shown in the drawings.

The cassette holder 2 comprises a cabinet structure 3 having a front wall 4 formed of mateiral which readily will pass X-rays. The cassette holder 2 is provided with slots in its side walls to receive a cassette 6 in which a film may be supported rearwardly of the wall 4 in the path of X-rays emanating from the head 1.

Identification apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention is indicated in the drawings by the reference character 7 and includes a plurality of drums 8 each of which is independently and rotatably mounted on a spindle or shaft 9 supported in a supporting structure 10. Any suitable supporting structure may be used, but it is preferred that the structure 10 include a housing part 11 of such width as to span all of the drums 8, the housing 11 including supporting legs 11a which conveniently may terminate in flanges 12 and to which is attached in any suitable manner a base member 13 adapted to be secured to the cassette holder 2. One manner in which the sup porting and base members 10 and 13, respectively, may be secured to the cassette holder is by means of screws 14 which extend into the top wall of the cassette holder 2 through the aligned openings formed in the flanges 12 and in the base member 13.

As is best shown in Figures 5 and 6, each drum 8 may be composed of a pair of telescoping cup-shaped members 15 and 16 having peripheral flanges 15a and 16a, respectively, the member 15 being received within the member 16 and being spaced from the latter in part by its peripheral flange 15 1 and by a plurality of spacer parts 18 having a head 19 at one end and being tapped at the other end for the reception of arheaded screw 20. Each of the drum forming members 15 and 16 is centrally apertured as at 21 for reception of the shaft 9 and each of the drums 8 preferably has fixed thereto at least one annular part 22 which serves the combined function of spacing the drums 8 one from another and from the sides of the support 10 and serving as hearings on which the drums may rotate. Preferably each face of each endmost drum is provided with an annular part 22.

The shaft 9 preferably terminates at each end adjacent to the endmost part 22 and each end of the shaft may be tapped as at 23 for reception of a headed screw 24 which passes through an opening in the side wall of the member 10 to support the shaft 9 in generally horizontal position. 7

7 One of the cup-shaped members 15 or 16 is provided with a plurality of uniformly spaced,'headed mounting studs 25 located intermediate the axis of rotation and the periphery of the: associated Each of the mounting studs 25 isslotted as at, 26 for reception ,qf one end of a' coiled spring ribbon or tape 27, the other end of the tape 27 extending through aligned slots 17, 17a

in the flanges 15a, 16a of the drum-forming members 15 and 16, respectively. At the outer or free end of each of the tapes 27 is an indicia carrying element or tab 29 of substantially greater width than the width of the tape, and which has a portion of its body removed by a stamping operation, for example, to form a number or letter.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figures 1-5, the indicia carrying element 29 is hingedly connected to the free end of the tape 27 by means of a T-shaped hinge construction 30, whereas in the embodiment shown in Figures 7 and 8, the indicia element 29 is rigidly connected to the tape 27 by means of rivets 31. In each instance, the end of the element 29 which is adjacent to the free end of the tape 27 is sloped to provide shoulders 32 for a purpose to'be described.

When the indicia elements 29 are hingedly connected to their respective tape elements 27, the element 29 will be pivotable relatively to the tape 27 so as to lie closely adjacent to the upper periphery of the drum 8 in the manner shown in Figures 3 and 5, thereby enabling the radial dimensions of the support element 10 to be only a little more than the radial dimension of the individual drums 8. When the elements 29 are rigidly fixed to the tapes 27, however, as in the embodiment shown in Figure 7, the indicia carrying elements 29 will project radially from the drums 8. Thus, the size of the housing 10 must be great enough to accommodate not only the drums 8, but also the projecting elements 29.

Each of the indicia carrying elements 29 is individually extensible from the associated drum 8 by grasping the element 29 and pulling it, whereupon the spaces between the convolutions of its associated coiled tape will be reduced so as to permit the element 29 and a portion of its tape 27 to be extended. Referring now particularly to Figures 3 and 4, the base member 13 is provided with a vertical flange 33 which is adapted to overlie the front, upper edge of the cabinet 3. The lower end of the flange 33 terminates in a forwardly projecting flange 34 which is provided with a series of notches 35 of such width as to accommodate one of the spring tapes 27, but being of insufficient width to permit free passage of the element 29 therethrough. Accordingly, when one of the tapes of a drum is extended and received in its associated slot 35,

the edges of the slot will bear against the shoulders 32 of the indicia carrying element and retain the latter in extended position. The length of each element 29 and the location of the flange 34 are such that an extended element will be held by the interengagement of its shoulders and the flange 34 in the path of X-rays travelling from the head 1 to the film in the cassette 6. The element 29 may be returned to its retracted position merely by moving the tape 27 out of its notch and releasing it, whereupon the tape will reassume the coiled condition shown in Figure 5. The width of each indicia carrying element 29 also is greater than the width of its associated slot in the periphery of the drum, thereby assuring that the several elements 29 will be so located as to be grasped readily.

When using the apparatus shown in Figure 1 for taking chest radiographs, for example, a patient may be positioned centrally with respect to the cassette holder 2 and in the path of X-rays emanating from the head 1 with his chin resting on the top of the cabinet 3. The identifying apparatus 7 may be located at one of the upper corners of the cassette holder 2 so that extended indicia carrying elements 29 will not be obscured by a portion of the patients body. Each of the drums 8 is individually rotatable with respect to the shaft 9 so as to permit any combination of numbers from to 99,999 to be held in extended position in the path of X-rays as is shown in Figures 1-4. As has been pointed out, the number or other indiciafound on each element 29 preferably is stamped out'in a manner similar to a stencil. This method will not impede the passage of X-rays therethrough. Thus, when the film in the cassette 6 is developed, the resulting radiograph will carry at one of its upper corners, identifying indicia corresponding to the numbers punched in the selected elements 29. Such a radiograph is shown in Figure 9 at 36.

If it is desired also to record the date on which a particular radiograph is taken, a unit similar to the unit 7 in all details of structure may be mounted at the other side of the cabinet 3. In this case, however, instead of having a plurality of number reels, the date recording unit will be provided with a combination of letter and number reels in order that the several months as well as the day of the month may be recorded.

The disclosed embodiments are representative of presently preferred forms of the invention but are intended to be illustrative rather than definitive thereof. The invention is defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for use in identifying radiographs comprising support means; at least one drum; means mounting said drum on said support means for rotation; a plurality of individually extensible indicia carrying elements, each of said elements having indicia different from the others; means mounting each of said elements for extension and retraction relative to said drum; and means cooperable with said elements for holding a selected element in extended position to be photographed.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the mounting means for each of said elements includes a coiled spring ribbon having one end fixed in said drum and the other end connected to said element.

3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein each of said elements is integrally joined to its spring ribbon.

4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein each of said elements is hingedly connected to its spring ribbon.

5. Apparatus for use in identifying radiographs comprising support means; a plurality of drums; means mounting each of said drums adjacent to one another for independent rotation; a plurality of individually extensible, indicia carrying elements for each of said drums, each of the elements of individual drums having indicia different from the others; means mounting each of said elements for extension and retraction relative to its associated drum; and means cooperable with the elements of each drum for holding a selected element of each drum'in extended position to be photographed.

6. Apparatus for use in identifying radiographs comprising support means; means forming a drum havinga rim at its periphery with openings therein; means'mounting said drum on said support means for rotation; aplurality of individually extensible, indicia-carrying elements corresponding to the number of openings in said rim, each of said elements having indicia different from the others; means mounting each of said elements for extension and retraction relative to said drum through its associated opening in said rim; and means cooperable with said elements for holding a selected element in extended position to be photographed.

7. Apparatus as set forth in claim 6 wherein the mounting means for each of said elements includes a coiled spring ribbon having one end fixed in said drum and the other end connected to said element. I

8. Apparatus as set forth in claim 7 wherein each of said elements is integrally joined to its spring ribbon.

9. Apparatus as set forth in claim 7 wherein each of said elements is hingedly connected to its spring ribbon.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,773,436 Martin Dec. 11,1956

FOREIGN PATENTS 465,726 Italy Sept. 22, 1951 

